A green infrastructure retrofit for the upper Campus Creek watershed parking lots

Abstract

Flash flooding and poor water quality are significant issues for Campus Creek. Studies have shown that green infrastructure can mitigate certain stormwater runoff related issues like flooding and poor water quality, but there are opportunities to further explore how retrofitting parking lots on campus with green infrastructure can make a difference. Thus, this project explores how the northwestern parking lots of the Campus Creek Watershed can be retrofitted with green infrastructure to help reduce stormwater runoff quantity, peak rate, and pollutant load. The study area was selected because it is located within the headwaters of the watershed. The specific parking lots of focus include Bill Snyder Stadium, Peter’s Recreation Center, and the northern portion of the Jardine Apartment Complex. The opportunities and constraints of each site were studied through site analysis. The proposed green infrastructure solutions included bioretention, rainwater harvesting mechanisms, tree canopy, and permeable pavement. The solutions were designed in areas where they could have the most beneficial impact on stormwater management. Once the design of the green infrastructure solutions was complete, additional modeling was conducted to determine their effectiveness. This project found that the proposed green infrastructure measures, together, can decrease annual runoff quantity by 54.5%, annual pollutant load by 84.7%, and the peak rate of runoff by 81% for a 5-Year Storm (3 hour duration), 10-Year Storm (2 hour duration), 25-Year Storm (90 minute duration), 50-Year Storm (1 hour duration), and 100-Year Storm (30 minute duration).